• Nojustice@lemmy.ml
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    20 days ago

    Lmfao at the absolutely classic .world responses in this thread. “Slavery is good actually”. You guys play your role too a T.

  • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
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    19 days ago

    So I think enslaves is a bit much here.

    This is a voluntary program, and I’m not getting the impression it’s the do this or we punish you voluntary either.

    Meanwhile there are actual prisons that will force labor or severely punish you for refusing. That’s enslaved.

    It’s also possible that the fire fighting is voluntary, but if not this, it would have been other mandatory slave work.

    Yes there are slaves in prison, I’m just not entirely sure this specific circumstance is it. They are getting slaves wages though.

    • geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml
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      19 days ago

      America incarcerates people for a ridiculous time and then lets them ‘voluntarily work to shorten their sentence’. It’s slavery with a little semantics.

      • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
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        19 days ago

        As long as it’s not forced (truly voluntary with no punishment otherwise) it’s still not enslaving them.

        I’m not saying it’s good, but the title has an agenda.

        Edit: Actually, the POSTER has the agenda, not the article. OP used the world enslaves. The actual article title is ‘Essential’: nearly 800 incarcerated firefighters deployed as LA battles wildfires. This is why a lot of places have no editorializing the titles rules.

  • Anticorp@lemmy.world
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    20 days ago

    Fire camp is a program that most prisoners actually want to get into. They get to learn useful skills, the accommodations are better, and the prisoners there don’t want to get removed from the program so they’re unlikely to be violent. I have a friend who spent 3 years in that program and he greatly preferred it to the prison he transferred from.

    • Anne@lemmy.world
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      20 days ago

      Tolerable accommodations, learning skills that can be put to use on the outside, and no fear of violence should be some of the basics of a prison system. The fact that our prison system is so fucked that slavery seems like a better deal isn’t a credit to slavery, it’s evidence of a horrifically broken prison system.

      • Anticorp@lemmy.world
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        20 days ago

        Our prison system absolutely has some major flaws, but fire camp is what you said, tolerable conditions, the ability to learn job skills and work outside, and learn a skill. You can’t guarantee safety from violence among violent people unless they are isolated, and that’s a worse punishment than anything. What I’m saying is that your criticisms of the general prison system aren’t applicable to fire camp, because it offers the things you mentioned.

    • Dessalines@lemmy.mlOP
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      20 days ago

      Getting paid 50 cents an hour to get put in a life-threatening situation because the state doesn’t want to hire firefighters, and would rather pay its prison population a pittance.

    • njm1314@lemmy.world
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      20 days ago

      Always a little disturbing to see these comments. Cause every single time they are made I see phrases like “most prisoners” just straight up acknowledging that it’s not all. Hand waving that away. Creepy.

      • Dessalines@lemmy.mlOP
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        20 days ago

        Not to mention other things like, is it actually true that most prisoners would want to get put in a life threatening situation?

        And why are we not acknowledging that the US regime gives prisoners these “choices”: go outside and die for the state, work on our prison farms, get contracted out to private companies, or stare at a wall in a cell. Truly an evil empire that should not be apologized for.

        • Anticorp@lemmy.world
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          20 days ago

          Well how would you suggest we deal with people who harm other people? If you can’t put them in a cell, and you can’t make them work, and you can’t teach them to be wilderness firefighters and have them perform those duties, then what do you propose?

          • Dessalines@lemmy.mlOP
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            20 days ago

            There aren’t many countries that employ slave labor like the US. You think they’re the rule but they’re the exception. Just because the US enslaves their prisoners doesn’t mean most other countries do too.

            • Anticorp@lemmy.world
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              20 days ago

              That’s avoiding the question and changing the subject though. I don’t disagree with you on this point. But many of them do deserve to be there, my friend included, so how do you propose they’re dealt with given the limitations you’ve placed on the system? What does your prison look like?

              Edit: I just realized you’re not the person who I was replying to originally, so I apologize for saying “you said”.

              • davel@lemmy.ml
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                20 days ago

                Given your history, I have my doubts that your friend is real, and one doesn’t need a holistic crime reduction plan in order to be anti-slavery.

                • Anticorp@lemmy.world
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                  20 days ago

                  You know nothing about me, let alone “my history”. That’s also what I suspected, you have no proposed solutions, only complaints. You can’t support your own argument, so instead you attacked me. I’m not pro-slavery, dufus, I’m acknowledging that fire camp is a good program for dealing with criminals, many of whom have hurt people and society, while also providing them with an opportunity to learn job skills, and work outside. For the record I’m opposed to the vast majority of the US prison system, especially the length of confinement.

      • Anticorp@lemmy.world
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        20 days ago

        I don’t presume to know the minds of every person. I do know that my friend was glad to get into the program, as was everyone else he told me about who was in it.

        • njm1314@lemmy.world
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          20 days ago

          If you’re not presuming that then why did you say most prisoners instead of just the one single one you claim to know?

          • Anticorp@lemmy.world
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            20 days ago

            Do you lack reading comprehension?

            “as was everyone else he told me about who was in it”

            • njm1314@lemmy.world
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              20 days ago

              So you’re supposed friend told you about most of the prisoners in the program? What percentage precisely?

      • Anticorp@lemmy.world
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        20 days ago

        Yes the alternatives suck. But are you aware that there’s people who volunteer to be wilderness firefighters for free? Fire camp is a good program.

    • FauxPseudo @lemmy.world
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      19 days ago

      And then when they get out they can’t use those skills because their criminal record prevents fire departments from hiring them.

      • Anticorp@lemmy.world
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        19 days ago

        Cal-fire will hire them directly out of prison if they’ve completed the program.